Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1887-05-12
miscellaneous.


poisonous plants, and malarious fungi,
and many other things which, in our view,
seem to deform the face of nature. What
certain human beings we're ever made for
it might puzzle us to tell. Science has
detected uses for a multitude of things
which were once regarded only as nui-
sance, but there still remain inscrutable
mysteries in the air. earth. and water. of
which all that we can say is, They exist.
and therefore there must be some reason
tor their existence"
But there are other and more cheering
departments of nature where the question,
What were these things made for?" is
equally pertinent. If we are sometimes
troubled by the seeming determines OF
creation, we must also be startled by the
beauty that is lavished upon objects which
do not appear to have been made for our
inspection. and rarely come within the
scope of human vision.
While passing your vacation on the sea-
shore. yoy dip up pail OF water. and
carefully spread upon paper the weeds
that you find floating there, and what a
revelation it is! No Mechlin lace was
ever woven in such exquisite and delicate
such marvellous tints of color. Men have
been down to the bottom of the deep, and
found themselves standing in the midst of
coral groves, with branches of pink and
vermilon, and ivory-white. the surface
sometimes smooth as glass. and sometimes
adorned with stars. and lozenges, and in
tricate patterns of every variety OF form
"A strange and beautiful mineral vege-
tation that never bends to the tide, or is
disturbed by the storm. A little further
on, our submarine explorer looks
upon an ocean pasture, filled
with a luxuriant growth of brilliant
grasses and delicate webs of soft. green,
and varieoated anemone. half animal and
half vegetable, flower that moves about
and feeds on flesh. and numberless other
forms of life. upon which the direct light
OF the sun never shone: and in and out
among the rocks, aud the crystals. and
the sea flowers, fishes are gliding and
dashing and sleeping-some Of them re-
posing with their noses resting on the
ground and their tails straight up in the
water, certain of them glistening like
FURNISHED silver, others clothed with all
the colors of the prism, others red like
fire. others yellow. others of an emerald
green and beneath 1t all, a pavement of
shells. infinite in variety, unapproachably
beautiful in form. and Illuminated with
the colors of an autumn sunset.
What were these things made for
Not one man in ten millions ever saw
with his own eyes this marvellous world
down in the depths of the sea, and it is
only by chance that its existence was ever
known. 1t seems to be all thrown away,
so far as we are concerned. But may not
these fishes take delight in their own
beauty. and have some aesthetic apprecia-
ton of the glories that surround themp
On the surface of the earth there are
also things hidden out of sight, which are
radiant with beauty. You take into your
hand a rough, unsightly stone, and strike
it sharp blow with hammer. when il
falls apart and discloses a double concave
OF crystal, that. since the morning OF
creation, never saw the light before but
now, in the first moment that it greets the
sun, it is converted into microcosm OF
rainbows. How many such latent spheres
of light may be scattered along our path
no one can tell. You take
another pebble. just as rough and un.
slightly, and you grind it on wheel until
the coarse surface is removed, and rub il
down with pumice, and polish it with oil,
and straightway you find that you have
come upon treasure which gold could
hardly buy, something so beautiful that il
has been made an emblem of the New Je.
rusalem above; and again, who can tell
how many such gems may be lying around
faA ta1 t..<
they were all made torP
You wander off into the wilderness
where the foot of man has never trod, and
strange flowers that you never heard OF in
any book of botany nod to You in the
breeze-howers that charm you by their
brllliancy and give delight by their rich
perfume; and here age after age, Born
to blush unseen and waste their sweetness
on the desert air." these flowers have
bloomed and blossomed and died. Is it a
waste, alter all, merely because the foot
of man has never trod this rich and fra
grant carpet beforeP
All the beauties already spoken of are
capable of being revealed to the naked
eye of man. but there is a world of splen.
dor which could never have been known
to exist without artificial aid The other
day took leaf of fresh salad that was
infested with sort of green dust. and
looking at it with a microscope, | caught
the glance of hundred dark and melan-
choly and most beautiful eyes, like the
eye of a gazelle, turned upon me with a
reproachable gaze, as much as to say.
"How could you think of immersing us in
oil and vinegar. and consigning us to OBJ
lvion in your greedy stomach" Why
were these exquisite creatures ever made
and why were they gifted with such mar
velous eyes?
The unseen world is. perhaps, more Law
ishly endowed with beauty than that which
comes within our ordinary vision, and all
for whatp